


Stay as Long as You Like

by surlybobbies



Series: Stay [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Minor Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 13:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13272723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surlybobbies/pseuds/surlybobbies
Summary: No one was around except for a tall dark-haired man turned away from him, looking through a file. “Excuse me,” Dean said.The man turned around, eyebrows raised. He looked surprised at being spoken to. “Yes. Hello.”Dean couldn’t help the surprise on his face too.  His irritation with Sam vanished. “Uh, hi,” he said, trying to hitch a grin on his face when all his mouth wanted to do was drop open and gape at the handsome stranger with the ridiculously blue eyes. “I’m looking for my brother. Freakishly tall? Hair down to his hips? Flannel?”[In which Cas's car wash/dog grooming business is short-staffed, and well, Dean's there anyway with nothing better to do (and Cas looks good in that apron) - so why not help?]





	Stay as Long as You Like

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill on tumblr: I drove past a car wash called Clean Bee Car & Dog Wash with a cute bee logo and ever since I’ve been thinking of Castiel running it and Sam taking his dog there, and pestering Dean that he should support the new local business by taking the Impala there to wash her.
> 
>  
> 
> Written in a few hours, and wow, that was exhilarating.

“If she craps in this car, you are so dead, Sam.”

Dean heard Sam snort from the backseat. “She knows how to behave in a car, dude,” he said. Dean looked up at the rearview mirror just in time to see Sam giving his retriever Mimi a kiss on the back of the head.

And really, what could Dean say to that? The dog was sitting calmly in the backseat, staring impassively out the window. She actually looked bored. When Sam wrapped a long arm around her to steady her for a sharp corner, however, she nudged her head against his cheek and closed her eyes, leaning into her owner.

It was so damn cute. Fuck. “I better not find any fur in here afterward.”

Sam gave him a knowing look. “You know you think she’s cute.”

Dean scowled. “She smells.”

That actually made Sam look a little hurt. “She hasn’t been to the groomers in a while.”

“Just like her daddy.”

Sam tucked his hair self-consciously behind his ear. “At any rate,” he said, adjusting Mimi’s collar, “If you wanted your car cleaned up, the place is also a car wash.”

“Gross. What kind of establishment washes dogs and cars in the same place?”

“The dogs are inside, where they belong, and the cars are outside, where __they__ belong.” 

Dean bristled. “No one washes Baby except for me. No one else knows how to take care of her.”

Sam was on his phone. “Whatever. I’m just saying they’re offering a free vacuum if you purchase a dog wash and a car wash on the same day.”

“Tell them to vacuum your hair; maybe you’ll find your dignity in there somewhere.”

“Shut up.”

\----

The place, Cas’s Bee Clean, was simple. Dean grudgingly approved; no need for any bells and whistles if you knew what you were doing. He pulled into a parking space - __not__ a car wash slot - and raised his eyebrows at Sam’s reflection. “Alrighty Rapunzel, I’ll pick you up in an hour.”

Sam frowned. “I was going to leave her and go around with you.”

“Might as well get groomed yourself while she’s here, right?”

“Eileen likes my hair!”

“Right.”

Sam glared at him, but he opened the car door anyway. “Come on, Meems.”

Mimi jumped out after him, her tail wagging. 

Dean watched them go, smiling despite himself. 

He waited. And waited. And waited.

“Are you kidding me, man?” he muttered, before getting out of the car himself. He stalked into the storefront. He looked around the empty waiting room, then approached the front desk. No one was around except for a tall dark-haired man turned away from him, looking through a file. “Excuse me,” he said.

The man turned around, eyebrows raised. He looked surprised at being spoken to. “Yes. Hello.”

Dean couldn’t help the surprise on his face too upon seeing the man’s face and blue, blue eyes. His irritation with Sam vanished. “Uh, hi,” he said, trying to hitch a grin on his face when all his mouth wanted to do was drop open and gape. “I’m looking for my brother. Freakishly tall? Hair down to his hips? Flannel?”

“Oh!” the man said. “Sam?”

“You know him?”

“Yes, he’s here quite often with Mimi. You must be Dean.” 

The man’s smile made Dean clutch the counter for support. “Yeah,” he said, “Yeah.” He extended a hand belatedly. “Nice to meet you. You are?”

“Castiel - but please call me Cas.”

Dean faltered. “You - you’re the owner?”

Cas nodded. “Yes. We’re a little short staffed today, though, so...” He looked down at his apron, damp in places. “I’m back where I started.”

The apron, tied snugly around Cas’s trim waist, made Dean’s throat go a little dry. He silently berated himself. 

When Dean didn’t respond, Cas awkwardly gestured to some seats near the door. “You can have a seat while you wait for Sam. Mimi was a little nervous when she saw Buster the chihuahua, so we let Sam come in wi - “ He stopped suddenly, staring out through the door. 

Dean looked nervously over his shoulder. He couldn’t see anything.

“Is that your car?” Cas said, a little strangely.

“The Impala? Yeah.”

“May I - May I see it up close?” Cas was already untying his apron in his eagerness.

“Uh, yeah?” 

Cas hurried from behind the counter and through the door. Dean trailed after him in a daze. 

“Beautiful,” Cas said, once he got close enough. Dean noticed he had his hands clutched tightly around the apron in his hands, as though restraining himself from touching. He looked up at Dean. “You know we offer some car detailing services? We’re mostly a car wash, but... a buff and shine would be wonderful to see.” He said the last part mostly to himself.

Dean fidgeted awkwardly. He looked toward the car wash area, where a teenager was locked in battle with a wayward hose and losing badly, from the looks of it.

Cas winced. “I would, of course, be the one handling it.”

Now it was Dean’s turn to wince. As attractive as Cas was, there was just no one he would trust to touch the Impala. 

“I understand,” Cas said, at seeing Dean’s expression. He smiled, though there was still disappointment at the corners of his mouth. “You know best how to take care of her.”

Dean gave Cas a small smile. “You know what you’re talking about,” he said. 

Cas looked a little embarrassed. “I like dogs and I like cars,” is all he said. He unrolled his apron where he had been wringing it in his excitement and put it back on. 

He was tying it, his arms behind his back, when Dean stepped in a little closer, rubbing the back of his neck. He was gratified when Cas looked up from the ground with pink ears. “I, uh - she may not be ready for a buff,” Dean said, “But Sam mentioned something about a free wax or something?”

“A free vacuuming with a purchase of a dog wash/car wash package,” Cas said automatically. His eyes dipped down to Dean’s lips for half a second, and Dean knew his Saturday was about to get a lot better.

“I also seem to remember you mentioning that you’re short-staffed,” he said, leaning on his car. 

“Yes,” Cas confirmed. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion despite the pink in his cheeks. “What are you saying?”

Dean shrugged, crossing his arms in a way that he knew emphasized his forearms. “Just that my Saturday’s free, and if you need an extra hand washing my car... well, I’ve got nothing else to do.” 

Cas smiled. “Stay for as long as you like.”

\-----

“As long as you like” turned into four hours, in which the Impala didn’t get washed so much as caught in the crossfire of Dean and Cas’s sprayhose battle (Sam and Mimi would later be picked up by Eileen, who ruffled Sam’s hair - she really did like it - and kissed Mimi on the nose). 

Then later, after closing, Dean offered to drive Cas home, and “as long as you like” turned into the whole weekend making out lazily on Cas’s couch. 

And seven months later, during dinner on a regular Tuesday night at the Roadhouse, “as long as you like” turned into “Cas, what if ‘as long as I like’ is forever?”

And three months later, in front of their family and friends, “as long as you like” turned into, “I do, Dean.”

**Author's Note:**

> Rebloggable link [here](http://surlybobbies.tumblr.com/post/169330382121/i-drove-past-a-car-wash-called-clean-bee-car-dog).


End file.
